“CAGW members are an iconoclastic bunch skeptical about politicians' promises.”- National Journal

CAGW Releases December 2015 WasteWatcher

For Immediate Release

Contact: Curtis Kalin 202-467-5318

December 18, 2015

(Washington, D.C.) – Today Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released its December WasteWatcher, a monthly dispatch to members of the news media, highlighting some of the most prominent fiscal issues affecting American taxpayers. The stories from its December edition of WasteWatcher are listed in part as follows:

Most of the time “the three Rs” mean reading, writing, and arithmetic. But for healthcare, what comes to mind are risk adjustment, reinsurance and risk corridors. These are risk-sharing mechanisms for insurance companies in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Taxpayers need to pay very close attention to the risk corridors because they are not functioning as planned due to the badly designed ACA. Read the full story here.

By Sean Kennedy
Upon assuming the office of Secretary of Defense in February 2015, Ashton Carter prioritized recruiting private sector companies – especially those in technology industries – to bid on contracts awarded by the Department of Defense (DOD). Carter, who holds a PhD in theoretical physics and lectured at Stanford, had the chops to appeal to Silicon Valley tech mavens. Read the full story here.

By any measure, those that serve in America’s military are the best of the nation. They sacrifice life and limb to defend the United States. They deserve the best medical care when they return home. However, numerous investigations over the past several years have exposed a systemic cancer of mismanagement and neglect in the federal department tasked with that care. Read the full story here.

On February 2, 2015, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler released a statement supporting federal preemption of state laws that restrict municipal broadband networks. On February 26, 2015, two other FCC commissioners agreed with the Chairman, and voted to overturn laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that restricted local municipalities’ ability to build government owned networks. Read the full story here.

On May 9, 2013, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order stating, “Openness in government strengthens our democracy, promotes the delivery of efficient and effective services to the public, and contributes to economic growth.” His pronouncement does not equate with reality: not all federal agencies are as open and transparent as the president wishes them to be. Read the full story here.

In the March 2015, I wrote about a handful of local transit projects in “Transportation Boondoggles: Streetcars and Other Things Lacking Desire.” One of the culprits was the proposed Purple Line, a bait-and-switch, multi-billion dollar, 16-mile light-rail line connecting the cities of New Carrollton and Bethesda, two Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. Read the full story here.

CAGW is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.